"Why should it be wrong?" Jack answered in great astonishment.
"Because this little house is God's special house, not to be used for just everyday things; but there are some letters one likes to read aloud here—St. Paul's for example."
"I did not know he wrote any," Jack said.
Tom took up a Bible and showed Jack some of the Epistles, explaining to him that the word meant the same as letter, and Jack grew quite excited and interested.
"And did they come by post same as mine," he said.
"No, there were no posts then; they were all carried by hand, and we can think of some room like this quite full of people listening to what the apostle had written to them. Such long letters they were; ever so much longer than father's, with a number of messages to different people at the end. As you grow older, you'll be able to read them for yourself."
It all sounded so real and interesting that Jack did not in the least realise that he was having a Bible lesson, and when Betty came in, he ran to tell her all about it.
"So you do the flowers. I thought them the prettiest thing in the church."
"It's not pretty, and there is no money to make it pretty," said Betty regretfully. "We are none of us well-to-do, and there are not many who seem to think it matters. The bell came down a little while ago, and no one has made any effort to rehang it."
Yes, there it lay in the corner of the porch; such a small bell, and yet it had served to show the church was alive and at work.